November 2025 #4
He looked less like he was going to be sick after she gave him a mauling kiss and a big hug, and then called Jake’s least favorite person in the world.
“Hey,” she said into her phone. “I need a favor.”
George Hunt, her bodyguard, her friend, the man who would be running all corporate security for Sutter soon, both domestic and abroad, who would be working side by side with her once she took the mantle of power from Aaron someday, must have grumbled, growled, or perhaps even groaned, because immediately, she was scowling.
“Just bring me a case of Dom Pérignon from my office, and I need you to actually hurry and not––” She gasped. “Stop making that sound right now! You have to come here anyway, and God help me if you don’t hurry because I will make you go with me tomorrow instead of Stassi.”
Silence for a moment.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now hurry,” she ordered and then hung up. She growled, said something under her breath that I had no doubt was not at all complimentary, and then was back to focusing on me and smiling.
“What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” she lied to my face.
“Who is Stassi?”
She was lost, and I knew why. All her brain cells were scheming, and she had no time for anything else.
“You said you would make George go instead of Stassi.”
“Oh, oh, uhm, well, whenever George can’t watch me, and Finn can’t watch me, third up is Torran Stassi.”
“Torran?”
She grinned. “I think Torran was his mother’s last name, and Stassi was his father’s, and they didn’t hyphenate as a surname, but did it like that instead.”
“You used the word ‘was’ for both parents.”
“I did. Yeah. He lost them both in a car accident that he was the lone survivor of when he was six.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It is, it really is, but what’s amazing is that his grandparents, on both sides, wanted to help raise him, so they bought a house together and did just that.”
“You’re kidding.”
She shook her head. “Torran’s parents were both only children, and because no one wanted to miss out, his mother’s folks and his father’s made the decision to quad-parent, I guess is what you’d call it, and that’s what they did.
They all moved to a farm in Oregon, and they all still live there together, now with three other elderly couples, and they all take care of each other. ”
“That is the best thing I’ve heard in a long time.”
“I know, right? When he first told me that story, I cried all over him.”
“Two sets of grandparents put aside everything else to devote themselves to their grandchild. I’m wildly impressed with them.”
“Me too.”
I turned to Jake. “Have you met this man?”
“I have, yes. He’s great.”
The sarcasm could not be missed.
Hannah swatted Jake gently and then went out the back door to rejoin the party. Jake groaned like he was dying and then returned to the couch as he’d been directed to do. Harper jogged by me moments later, off to keep an eye on Kola.
I turned back to the table of friends I’d been neglecting and looked at Aaron.
“What’d I do?”
“Nothing. Tell me about Torran Stassi.”
“Oh, well, not much to tell. George has taken over the hiring for Miguel, who, as you know, is transitioning to being full-time in the office and in another year will sadly retire.”
“You’ll miss him.”
“I will. He’s been with me the longest. I still remember standing up to my father to hire him. It was the beginning of our animosity.”
“Which didn’t matter in the end when you forced him out.”
“The board removed my father, but yes, the writing was on the wall.”
“Why didn’t your dad like Miguel?” Sam asked.
“Not the right ethnicity for dear old Dad.”
“That’s not great,” Chris commented.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Aaron said drolly.
“But I knew Miguel was the one from the moment he sat down with me in my office. He took a seat on my couch, not on the other side of my desk facing me like everyone else had, and instead of telling me about himself, he promised I would always be safe with his eyes on me.”
“I have no doubt,” I told him.
Aaron nodded.
“Miguel Romero is a scary man,” Duncan chimed in. “I asked Darius about him at George’s wedding, and he said that Jared Colter, retired Colonel Jared Colter, is the only one he knows with a high enough clearance to read Miguel’s Army file.”
“I read some of it,” Sam chimed in. “But quite a bit was redacted. He’s not a man to be messed with, that’s for certain.”
Duncan nodded. “I never worry about Aaron when Miguel’s with him, but I also respect that he knows when it’s time for George to take over. And the fact that George is his pick, also makes me not worry.”
“It’s good not to have to worry,” I assured Duncan, and got a smile from him before I turned back to Aaron. “So George hired this Stassi and trusts him to watch my girl?”
Aaron chuckled. “Unlike George and Finn, you can’t even see Hannah if Stassi is standing in front of her. He’s—how tall are you, Dane?”
“Six-five.”
“He’s probably about that, and I mean, when Miguel told me he played rugby in college, I was not remotely surprised.”
“So what you’re saying is, whereas George is spooky, and Finn is fast,” Dane summarized with a grin, “Hannah’s new guy is a wall between her and the world.”
Aaron nodded.
“He sounds good to me,” Sam concluded.
I was looking forward to meeting him at some point.
“So what does Hannah need champagne for?” Aja asked me.
“I have absolutely no idea.”
“Well, I’m sure it will be great. This is Hannah after all.”
Sam scoffed. “Like her plans don’t go right off the rails at any given moment.”
I couldn’t very well argue.
Thirty minutes later—how George made it from Aaron’s building downtown to Oak Park in twenty minutes without a siren and flashing lights was a mystery—Hannah had friends of hers filling up my plastic champagne flutes with pretty expensive bubbly.
I had bought the barware from Costco for New Year’s, but I could buy them again.
It was not even remotely worth thinking about.
What I was focused on, as I sat outside at one of the tables on the porch with Aja and Dylan, was how fast the champagne was going into the glasses.
Hannah had Wick and Harper pouring, along with her friend Coretta and drafted Portia, who could always be counted on, to step up and help, and Robert into service delivering flutes to people.
Jake wanted to help, but neither the pouring nor the carrying was in his wheelhouse.
Outside of his element of construction engineering and general construction, Jake’s brain and body alignment could not be counted on.
Doing what he did best, and really, any kind of higher math, Jake was your guy.
Put a pitcher of hot beeswax in his hand and have him fill up glass holders for candles—that was asking for trouble.
When everyone had a glass of champagne, and Harper had the music lowered, Wick went into the crowd, extricated Kola from Cody and Hazel, and walked him up on the porch. Jake then arrived with Finn at the same time to join Kola.
“Raise your glass, everyone,” Hannah announced loudly, lifting her flute in the air. “My family already knows, but we want to share the news with all our friends that Kola and Finn are engaged to be married!”
There was lots of screaming, hoots and whistles, and then Hannah said, deeply, with much flourish, in her serious Galadriel voice, “To Finn and Kola, may your days together be blessed.”
Everyone drank, and then there was thunderous applause as Kola turned to Finn, took his face in his hands, and leaned in and laid a kiss on Finn that made him weak in the knees, if the unsteadiness when Kola let him breathe was any indication. More laughter and clapping followed that.
Hannah was right, Cody was beautiful, with his powerful physique, chiseled features, pale blue eyes and deep tan. I knew it was him when, after a few minutes, he made it up onto the porch to congratulate Kola.
“Thank you so much,” my son said, smiling wide, clearly pleased with being the center of attention as long as Finn was there beside him, holding his hand. “I’ve been wearing his grandfather’s ring, and I love it.”
Cody nodded, appearing a bit lost.
“Hey, I’ll be sure to stop and grab coffee and that apple croissant you like on Monday, since we both have lab at the same time.”
“Thank you,” Cody murmured before Kola grabbed him and hugged him before turning and hugging Hazel.
“I’m so glad you came with him. He talks about you all the time.”
She too appeared a bit out of her depth, but she nodded and glanced at Finn before Kola tugged him after him to introduce him to some of his friends from high school who had just arrived in time for the toast. Finn, for his part, was smiling at everyone.
“Why was that necessary?” George asked, taking a seat behind me, Dylan, and Aja with a plate of my lasagna, a bowl of salad, garlic bread, and a glass of ice water.
“She saved the day,” Aja told him, turning to face him. “You don’t want any wine?”
“No, thank you, I need a clear head. I’m driving to the airport after this to pick up Kurt. With all the flight cancellations, we weren’t sure he was going to make it home until tomorrow, but he got on standby, so he’ll get in right after midnight.”
“Oh good,” she told him. “I don’t know that I would fly anywhere at the moment.”
“Yeah, I told him that until things get back to normal—when they do—he can start up his speaking schedule again.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” I agreed.
“So explain what that was, please,” he prodded me.
“That guy there, the one standing next to the girl who looks as stunned as he does—he thought that he and Kola were dating.”
“How?” George asked between bites.
“I suspect that Kola and he have had meals together. Kola has been thoughtful, because that’s how he is, attentive, because again, he’s that way, and Cody—that’s his name—got the impression that they were more than what they are.”
“They’re friends, aren’t they?”
“Yes, but I think when you meet someone as genuine and giving as Kola, it’s different from the way a lot of people are, so you think it’s more than it is.”
George went back to eating, and I was struck, as I always was, by how when he was quiet, there was a real aura of danger that clung to him.
Sam was a big, strong, powerful man, and he could be menacing when provoked.
But simply sitting, people didn’t look at him and think not only that he could hurt them, but that he would.
With George, it seemed not only possible, but likely.
Finn wasn’t like that. I didn’t see someone lethal when I looked at the love of my son’s life.
But of course, the fear dissipated instantly when Hannah took a seat beside him, close, all up in his space, and thanked him for the delivery of both her strand of pearls and the champagne.
“Can you give me some room?” he snapped, but made no effort to move away from her.
“Don’t fuss, just say you’re welcome.”
Dylan, Aja, and I all smiled at him as he muttered the words under his breath. He wasn’t scary, even a little, when he allowed her to bump her head down on his shoulder and close her eyes.
Of course, a moment later, a young man came up the stairs, smiling, clearly looking for Hannah, acknowledging all of us with a tip of his head before slipping around the table, mouth opening to speak.
George’s dark midnight-blue eyes lifted slowly, and as he stared, coldly, without blinking, I watched the poor kid turn absolutely ashen, spin around, and bolt for the stairs.
“Oh,” Hannah said, opening her eyes. “I have the food and supply fundraiser at the Knickerbocker on Monday. Are you coming with me or––”
“I’m coming. That’s too many people in a crowded ballroom with you for anyone else to go.”
She smiled at him.
“Excellent lasagna, Mr. Harcourt,” he told me. “Always a pleasure to have a meal here.”
“Thank you, George.” I smiled at him as Jake brought Hannah another flute of champagne.
She thanked him, and the moment he sat down, she moved from leaning against George to leaning against him. When I caught his gaze and grinned, he finally nodded.
“So basically, you announced Kola and Finn’s engagement, and by doing so, made Kola’s status clear for anyone who was unsure?” George asked Hannah.
“Correct.”
“Kola couldn’t do that himself?”
“Kola would be confused that he would have to. He’d be shocked if you asked him if Cody liked him.”
“Of course Cody likes me,” Kola clarified as he stopped at the table, Finn’s hand still in his. “We’re friends.”
“Yes, you are,” Jake assured him.
Kola bent, pushed Jake’s hair back from his forehead, and gave him a quick kiss. He then turned to his sister. “Thanks for the toast, B, that was cool,” he said before heading for the back door with Finn in tow.
After a moment George said, “I think Kola’s gonna need a big-ass wedding ring.”
Hannah gasped. “This is what I was saying earlier. That sweet Claddagh ring that he’s wearing at the moment just isn’t going to be enough.”
“Clearly.”
Hannah nodded.
Great minds and all that.
Okay, all, enjoy Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving, and whatever you do, make sure you take some time to hibernate a bit. Short days and long nights are made for slowing down. I’ll see you all in December.